


Dark dreams

by thiswouldbeakick



Category: Men's Football RPF
Genre: Football, Football | Soccer, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmare, Tottenham Hotspur
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:53:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21976903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thiswouldbeakick/pseuds/thiswouldbeakick
Summary: Dele has a bad dream.
Kudos: 5





	Dark dreams

**Author's Note:**

> Just a short fic/drabble about Dele and Eric. No slash, just friendship

The trip over to the States had been a long one. A flight of over nine hours to Florida, followed by another three hours on a bus.  
Finally, the Tottenham Hotspur squad reached their hotel, from which their annual summer training camp would commence. 

Mourinho was handing out the keys to the hotel rooms. Eric gratefully took his, fully ready to fall asleep as soon as he got to the room.  
As always when going on trips with the squad, Eric was sharing a room with Dele.  
“Come on, Del,” Eric called for his friend right after he had gotten the key. Dele looked just as fatigued as Eric felt. 

Dele and Eric quickly made it to their third floor room.  
Dele instantly let himself fall backwards onto the first bed in the room, while Eric sat down on the second bed. It was already late in the evening, and their training camp would commence tomorrow with a morning run.  
“You wanna see anything on TV?” Eric asked.  
“No,” Dele slowly sat upright on his bed, “I’m gonna brush my teeth and go to sleep. I’m totally beat.”  
“Hm, me too,” Eric agreed. 

It only took fifteen minutes for the both of them to brush their teeth, change into their nightwear, and get into bed.  
“Alarm set for 7 am,” Eric announced. Dele hummed softly to show he had heard.  
“Goodnight, Del.” Eric switched off the lights in their room.  
“Goodnight,” Dele answered softly, already hard on his way to falling asleep. 

It took Eric a little longer to fall asleep. He was exhausted, but somehow couldn’t catch sleep just yet. He heard Dele’s slow, deep breaths, and the occasional soft snore, so his friend apparently had no trouble sleeping.  
Eric rolled himself onto his side. There was just enough light coming in from the carpark outside their window for Eric to make out Dele’s silhouette. Dele lay on his side, back turned to Eric, and already far away into dreamland.  
Eric forced his eyes shut, and willed himself to give into fatigue. It took a little while, but finally Eric, too, was pulled under by sleep. 

xxxxx

Eric woke again when the sky outside was still pitch black. He was about to blame it on some cruel twist of faith that he had awoken in the middle of the night, when he heard a strange noise. It held the middle between a groan and a soft wail. It took Eric a few seconds to realize those sounds were coming from Dele.  
“Del?” Eric sat up in his bed.  
Dele produced a soft whimper, and stirred under his covers. Eric only now realized that Dele wasn’t awake, but was making the sounds in his sleep, and whatever he was dreaming about didn’t seem pleasant.  
“N-no…” Dele whimpered sleepily.  
“Del, wake up,” Eric tried. He didn’t like hearing his friend like this.  
Dele didn’t wake up, though, but only stirred more under his covers.  
“Come on, buddy, wake up,” Eric said a little louder this time, not really wanting to get out of his bed.  
Still, Dele didn’t wake.  
“No, don’t do this…” he whimpered again.  
Eric sighed. He had to wake Dele up, he couldn’t listen to this anymore, but was quite certain by now that he would have to come out of his bed for it. 

Eric carefully took the three steps that separated their beds.  
Dele lay on his back, tangled in the covers. He stirred and twitched, and was constantly mumbling or whimpering.  
“Delboy?” Eric reached out to shake his friend’s arm. Dele’s skin felt clammy to the touch.  
“Del, wake up.” Eric spoke louder this time, and gave Dele’s arm a less friendly tug.  
Dele awoke with an anxious gasp, and sat half-upright, supporting himself with his elbows. A bewildered look played in his eyes as he found Eric standing by his bed.  
“You had a bad dream, bud.” Eric clasped him on the shoulder.  
“W-what…?” Dele seemed completely lost, and still groggy.  
“Bad dream?” Eric clarified.  
“Oh…yeah.” Dele sighed dejectedly. He sat fully upright and ran a hand over his face.  
“Well, I hope it doesn’t bother you again.” Eric returned to his bed.  
“No, it was bad,” Dele said softly, “they were really pummelling you.”  
“What?” Eric chuckled, not really sure what to make of this, “your nightmare was about me?”  
“Yeah.” Dele sounded dead serious, so Eric immediately stopped his chuckling.  
“So why was I haunting you?” Eric tried with some sarcasm.  
“We were out for a drink and we got into a fight,” Dele started.  
Eric couldn’t see his friend’s face in the darkness, but Dele’s voice sounded strained, emotional.  
“These guys… we were heavily outnumbered,” Dele continued, “I tried to help you, but they… they kicked you in the head. I really thought they’d killed you…”  
Dele’s voice trailed off and he fell silent. 

For a moment, Eric did not know what to say, or even how to respond at all.  
Of course he knew Dele and he were very close friends, but he was strangely flattered by the fact that Dele was so upset about a nightmare involving him.  
“Come on, mate, I’m fine,” Eric finally said with as much cheer as he found prudent.  
“I know,” Dele mumbled, barely audible. 

Dele lay back down, and stared up at the ceiling for a little while.  
“I’m sorry for waking you.” Dele now rolled himself onto his side.  
“Don’t worry about it,” Eric answered, “and, Del?”  
“Yeah?”  
“You’re a good friend, mate.” Eric’s words were utter sincere.  
Dele smiled into his pillow, even though he knew Eric couldn’t see it.  
“You, too.”


End file.
